Saturday, September 17, 2011

An adventourous journey 一个探密行程

14/9, we left our apartment at about 9:00 am and headed towards Boh tea Sungai Palas plantations which was about 9 Kms away off the main road.

The road to Sg Palas plantation is narrow and winding. It is advisable to honk at certain sharp corners to alert cars coming from opposite direction.

It is a lovely and sprawling plantations with tea plants grown on rolling hills stretching as far as eyes can see.

We spent almost two hours at the modern and comfortable cafe with viewing deck, drinking the famous Boh tea, enjoying cakes and scones, admiring the beautiful surrounding.

After Boh plantation, we decided to put our adventure spirit to test - driving up to Gunung Brichang (Mount Brinchang) which is at the western end of Boh plantations.

It was misty and the road was wet after rain. Our sturdy and faithful Toyota Unser brought us to the end of the road of Mt. Brinchang which is 2031 metres, believed to be the highest road in Peninsular Malaysia! (Genting Highlands is 1860 metres).

Due to heavy mist, we were not able to have a good view of surrounding areas except the communication towers built by Telecom Malaysia.

It was a GREAT feat for us ... a man and three ladies, a boy and a toddler, drove on the highest road in Peninsular Malaysia, not with a 4-WD, with a family MPV ... albeit an economy version!

About 4:00 pm in the afternoon, we met up with a mutual farmer friend Mr. Ng who has a vegetable farm at Kg Raja, 10 kms from our hotel.

It was away from the beaten track and needed a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get there. We enjoyed our ride at the back of truck.

We were surprised to see such a big area of farm in Kg Raja which is mostly parched on steep hills. We admired and respect the hard working and innovative highlands farmers.

Mr. Ng planted mainly Choi sum, big Bak Choi and small Bak Choi, sold to an agent of a hypermarket. His farm produces about three to four hundred kilograms of vegetables daily.

He led us round his farm explaining the growing process and schedule of his produce. He is a third generation farmer succeeded from his father.

Currently he faces worker shortage. The situation was made worse by the recent government 6P foreign workers registration program.

Mr. Ng is a very generous man, besides giving us tens of kilograms of vegetables, sweet potatoes and corns, he insisted buying us dinner before saying goodbye after the visit.

The restaurant we went was famous among the locals. We have local dishes with local ingredients, especially Big Bak Choi freshly plucked from Mr. Ng's farm... DELICOUS !

On the next day 15/9 morning, we visited Paul and Cindy, formerly residing in Kajang. We have a brief visit to their flower farm before saying goodbye.